Being a terrier, Wendy is a little high-strung, although not overly so. But today she came upstairs where I was working, jumped up next to me and cuddled up, trembling like a leaf. It took me a while, but I figured it out: There was a smoke alarm chirping with a dying battery, down in the basement. Spriggy was also high-strung, but brave as a mongoose, and chirping smoke alarms had the same effect. One day I came home and found him in an absolute lather — trotting from one end of the house to the other, panting, frantic. All over a little beeping.
And that? Was pretty much the extent of the news developments at this end today. That, and the usual household annoyances, plus 7,000 emails.
God, I can’t wait for warm weather. Thirty-seven degrees today was the best it got. Worst cabin fever I’ve had since…last year.
So a quick stop by the bloggage, and I’m headed to bed.
This site has been around for a while, but I’m just finding it: The Reductress, the Onion of women’s magazines. Case in point: Local woman wins stress-eating contest:
The third annual Häagen Dazs-Frito Lay Stress-Eating Contest was held this weekend at Morgantown County Fair in Morgantown, West Virginia. Eight competitors from the area took their places on the stage with one goal in mind: to stress-eat heaping piles of food until their feelings went away. But only one woman would come out on top: head server at Rocky’s Water Hole and recent, Mica Sullivan.
“I fucking deserve better, you know?” said Sullivan, in a rambling Facebook status posted at 3:14 this morning as she scraped the bottom of a bag of chips. “He’s trash.”
It appears Ben Carson is crazier — or just more offensive, in every way — than we thought. Here’s Carson and Armstrong Williams watching the SOTU:
“He looks good,” Williams said. “He looks clean. Shirt’s white. The tie. He looks elegant.”
“Like most psychopaths,” Carson grumbled. “That’s why they’re successful. That’s the way they look. They all look great.”
For those unfamiliar with the mood of America’s far right, casually branding the president a psychopath is exactly the sort of talk that strikes a chord—and just the thing that has made Carson a sensation in the GOP. Today the former pediatric neurosurgeon—who’s never run for elected office—is suddenly besting candidates like Jeb, Marco, and Rand in some 2016 polls and preparing to announce his campaign for the White House. As for the current resident, well, Carson is sometimes encouraged to cut him just a little slack before he hands over the keys.
Psychopath. Good one. Keep it up, guys. This is a winning strategy if there ever was one.
Facebook as the great publisher of the future. Oh, joy.
Killer Wednesday ahead. Expect…not much posting until Thursday.
Joe kobiels said on March 25, 2015 at 12:32 am
My golden retrieve is the same way. Watching a old modern family the alarm on TV was chirping Baxter was frantic.
Pilot Joe
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Dexter said on March 25, 2015 at 1:19 am
Carson’s blatherings remind me of a class I was sitting in at IUPUFW as the prof, Dr. Threlkeld if memory serves, was lecturing on the woes of unbridled capitalism. He brought up the event he had attended recently (this was 1971) where the speaker was President Richard Milhous Nixon. The professor told how Nixon’s suit was cut from cloth that stood out in its brilliant blue hues, his tie accented the whiter-than-white shirt , Nixon’s hair was perfectly coiffed,and of course he was closely shaven and tanned. “He was beautiful, he looked like a million bucks”, said Threlkeld, who also commented on Nixon’s slim waistline (lots and lots of cottage cheese with ketchup…remember that?) The prof’s point was something about how the ruling class will pull out all the stops to grab the attention of the hoi-polloi…like how the Nixon handlers made the creepy Nixon appear angelic when the occasion occurred.
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MarkH said on March 25, 2015 at 1:49 am
Alright, ‘Shelley-O’ fans — anyone watch ‘Jeopardy’ Tuesday night? The First Lady made a guest video appearance in a food nutrition category, and debuted an extreme new ‘do’ – no hair at all.
S’up with this?
http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/236865-bald-first-lady-michelle-obamas-jeopardy-appearance-raises-questions
This’ll be good for about 30 posts today, sure.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2015 at 4:50 am
Mark H. I think Michelle has her hair skinned back in a pony tail and the lighting makes her look like she doesn’t have much hair. Amazing how good she looks that way. She’s really an attractive woman.
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 5:31 am
It’s stunning how many physicians are shitheads, and Carson is a living example of why they should be required to post the results of annual “Minimum Competence Batteries” in their offices.
Carson and John Ashcoft speaking at Pat Robertson’s birthday party was a nice touch, too. I wish Pat Robertson and the rest of the Republicans the best of luck in summoning mucky Reagan from the grave. That way the party can openly embrace its racist death cult roots, and the rest of their candidates will look comparatively less like a waiting list for large bowel surgery.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 25, 2015 at 6:45 am
She wasn’t bald — that just looked like a pull-back, with a poorly placed down-angle light hurriedly clipped to a kitchen overhead rack washing out here hair.
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Basset said on March 25, 2015 at 7:14 am
You had a golden, Joe? We’ve had two, the second a rescue – Rescueagolden.org
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alex said on March 25, 2015 at 7:55 am
“And what is the role of the Knesset?” he interjected. This prompted a tutorial on Israel’s legislature. Carson is a tall, dignified-looking man with a placid, almost sleepy face. As he tried to concentrate on his Hebrew Schoolhouse Rock primer, he seemed even more fatigued. “It sounds complex,” he finally said. “Why don’t they just adopt the system we have?”
And that’s not even the part that makes him sound dumb. How unreflective must you be in order to believe that the Obama Administration is worse than the Third Reich in punishing criticism of the government? Especially when you’re leveling such preposterous criticisms and getting standing ovations for it?
That pig-headed putz will be his handlers’ worst nightmare and one of the best things to happen to the Democrats in 2016, although he could have the unintended effect of making Ted Cruz sound sensible.
###
Re: Kimmy Schmidt, I watched the first two episodes last night. Very frenetically paced, so much so that I didn’t get much of a chance to laugh. It’s engaging, certainly, although I was rather more enjoying the first two seasons of Desperate Housewives on Hulu, which I had missed when they aired beginning in 2004.
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beb said on March 25, 2015 at 8:35 am
I’m surprised that Carson and Williams didn’t go on about how articulate Pres. Obama was … for a black man. And have we ever seen a picture of either man not looking elegant on their own? Republicans are great at projection. If Carson thinks the president is psychopathic it’s probably because he’s one himself.
A company called Reaction Housing has come up with a design for temporary FEMA housing that, it suggests, is cheaper than the trailers FEMA usually sends. The shelter is called Evo. It’s basically a plastic or fiberglass stackable shell with a separate base. Lay out the base, set the shell on top and latch into place. Inside are four outlets, LED lighting, four fold-down cots and a door with a lock. Of course the question is will the plastic shell outgas formaldehyde like the FEMA trailers?
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 8:36 am
I’m sorry, it was Ed Meese, not John Ashcroft. I can’t believe Meese is even a thing anymore. If there was any actual justice in the world, the towel Meese had draped over her statue would have caused a ton and a half of cast bronze to topple on him, prompting the headline “Meese dies in titfuck.”
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Joe K said on March 25, 2015 at 9:19 am
Bassett,
My wife and I have always had a golden, sometimes 2 for the last 35 yrs.
Baron, Dixie, Carling, Piper, and now Baxter, who will be 10 in June.
Pilot Joe
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Jolene said on March 25, 2015 at 9:23 am
Cooz, I don’t know who was at Pat Robertson’s birthday party, it was during Ashcroft’s time as AGthat the curtain went down over the Spirit of Justice.
Carson seems to me to be so ill-informed and misguided that I wonder how he could possibly have been the kind of physician he’s reputed to have been. You don’t have to be up to date on all the latest political developments to be a doc, but I’ve known many medical academics of the sort he was, and they were all sophisticated, rational people. I’d like to hear from some of his medical colleagues. I wonder if there’s more to the story of why he retired so early.
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Jolene said on March 25, 2015 at 9:25 am
Should say, “. . . but it was during Ashcroft’s time . . . “
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 9:34 am
I get Meese and Ashcroft confused, partially because they’re pretty much indistinguishable in-your-face fundamentalists.
Another reason is a photo of Meese in front of the naked statue as he announced one of those periodic anti-pornography crusades. I can’t remember whether it was Spy or Vanity Fair who captioned the picture “Tits…and ass.”
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BethB said on March 25, 2015 at 9:35 am
This may have been discussed here several years ago, but apropos to the discussion yesterday about Ted Cruz, this is what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo had to say Monday about Ted: “Back in 2013 I went back and talked to my college classmates about what they remembered about Ted Cruz. Here’s what they told me.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/me-ted
(I realize this link may not be live–if that’s the case, I don’t know how to do that here, so copy and paste if necessary.)
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 9:36 am
And here’s a rundown of Pat’s birthday bash:
http://wonkette.com/580530/happy-birthday-pat-robertson-you-are-not-dead
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BethB said on March 25, 2015 at 9:36 am
Hey, it worked. I guess i know how to do it after all.
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Suzanne said on March 25, 2015 at 9:53 am
BethB, thank you for that link. I remembered reading somewhere that people that went to school with him all pretty much said he was a fantastic jerk. Seems the GOP leadership thinks so, too, which says as much as classmates at Harvard Law, not known for humility, thinking he was extremely arrogant.
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Suzanne said on March 25, 2015 at 9:55 am
BethB, thank you for the link. I remember running across that a while back, but couldn’t remember where.
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MarkH said on March 25, 2015 at 10:43 am
FLOTUS kerfuffle: good call, Deborah and Jeff, apparently. While watching the show it was impossible to tell anything other than she had her hair close-cropped. Looking at the still shots from the segment, it does appear to be pulled back with, um, interesting lighting. There is still no official explanation and the only thing I could find last night before going to bed was the Hill piece. The other interesting factor is that Jeopardy is taped way in advance, so this could have been in January. NY Daily News has a bit more, FWIW.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lady-michelle-obama-appears-bald-jeopardy-article-1.2161299
Moving on….
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Jeff Borden said on March 25, 2015 at 10:54 am
Hey Hoosiers,
I see that Dan Coats will not seek reelection. What are the chances a moderate Democrat could win the Senate seat there? What likely Republicans will emerge?
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Heather said on March 25, 2015 at 10:54 am
I am just imagining what some of our more, er, conservative politicians might do if Michelle actually started sporting a natural afro.
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Kirk said on March 25, 2015 at 11:01 am
… or actually shaved her head
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 11:13 am
She’s black. She’s intelligent. She’s beautiful.
The only possible Republican response is hate.
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 11:22 am
Look no further than the intelligent, beautiful black woman who is awaiting Senate confirmation to be AG – Loretta Lynch – to see an example.
Here in Indiana, I think Pence might just jump for the Senate…and although Evan Bayh wouldn’t be much of a Democrat (at least in the Elizabeth Warren sense of the term), I’d take him 10 times out of 10, versus our Bobby Knight look-alike whack-job governor
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alex said on March 25, 2015 at 11:23 am
Jeff, I wish there were a moderate Dem, but none comes to mind, unless Evan Bayh wants to try to get his old seat back. As for the circling vultures of the GOP, these include current reps Stutz the Yutz and Todd Rokita.
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Jeff Borden said on March 25, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Too bad, Alex. We need more seats, though I guess you’d have to hold your nose to vote for Bayh.
BTW, don’t know if you’ve seen this, but the largest convention Indianapolis hosts each year is a fantasy and comics convention. The organizer says if Mike Pence signs that so-called religious freedom law that allows discrimination based on beliefs, they will exit Indiana and take their tens of millions in expenditures with them. Good. Bigotry should be expensive. . .very expense.
I figure Illinois will dump Sen. Mark Kirk on the next go-round. He benefitted from a weak Dem candidate with financial problems attributable to his family’s bank and won a close election in his first Senate race. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, particularly after his remarkable and courageous comeback from a stroke, but he consistently votes with McConnell and was, sadly, a signee to that wretched letter sent to Tehran by the 47 traitors in the Senate. The deadbeat, teabagging asshole Joe Walsh, who served a single term in the House and now hosts a batshit insane radio program on a weak signal AM station around here, will stalk Kirk in the primary as not being right-wing enough. Walsh would be laughably easy to beat. He makes Ted Cruz or Newt Gingrich look quiet and self-effacing.
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 12:00 pm
I think Stutz will get Tony Bennetted, if he runs for the Senate.
Mr “cut food stamps – but gimme gimme gimme” on his crop support checks from the United States government should be defeatable in a state-wide election
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Danny said on March 25, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and all that. In my single days, I had the good luck to date a couple of black women who were quite beautiful to me.
To me, while M.O. Is not ugly, she is not even in the sphere approaching true beauty. Her face doesn’t do it for me and the horsey build is a real turnoff too.
As for intelligence…meh. She has the celebrity that comes with a bully pulpit and as Cintra Wilson* was wont to say, famous people often confuse celebrity with wisdom.
*Though I am sure Cintra would probably consider Michelle intelligent. Not trying to put words in her mouth.
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 12:14 pm
Well, all I know is – Michelle Obama strikes me as quite beautiful….and indeed, I once got to shake her hand – which is certainly better than if I had gotten to shake her husband’s (who was then still a senator)
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Oh – and Fox News is running a breathless headline, right now, regarding Michelle and using the word “scandal” in the large print.
Something about a florist that was let go from the White House…by Michelle, doncha’ know!
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 12:24 pm
One last lunchtime story you might have already heard – sort of a ‘WTF?’ story, but still worth a giggle.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/25/the-all-canadian-basketball-player-who-can-now-use-his-f-word-last-name/
The Post isn’t the first to struggle with the conundrum. “We get a lot of looks about his name,” Price confessed in an interview. “I can’t tell you how many times I have to confirm the spelling and the pronunciation of his name. It’s a constant thing. People think it’s a typo.” But it’s not.
Welcome to the North American adventures of Guilherme Carbagiale F—. The demands of F— are simple. He just wants to be F—. And for a long time, he couldn’t. And it was heartbreaking. “It’s my last name,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I’m proud of it. Doesn’t matter if it means something bad.”
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 12:39 pm
Women aren’t bro cars, bro.
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Suzanne said on March 25, 2015 at 1:04 pm
So, Fox News, which I am fairly certain promotes Right to Work legislation along with at will, non-Union employment as good for the economy, gets upset when the First Lady lets someone from her staff go? Isn’t that how business is supposed to work? You follow your employer’s directives or face the consequences.
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Jolene said on March 25, 2015 at 1:13 pm
The Post has lots of ideas re who might run for the Indiana Senate seat. In another article, they noted that Evan Bayh has a huge pile of money that would give him a leg up against any other candidate. I find it hard, though, to see him as a candidate given the disdain for the institution that he expressed when he resigned.
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Joe K said on March 25, 2015 at 1:25 pm
She is black, she is intelligent, she is beautiful, sound a lot like Condalisa Rice.
I Don’t hate Michelle, just don’t agree with her politics.
Pilot Joe
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Danny said on March 25, 2015 at 2:09 pm
Joe, you spelled Condi’s name incorrectly. You are a racist.
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annie said on March 25, 2015 at 2:16 pm
so what if Michelle or Condi are beautiful or ugly or whatever. Why are we even having this discussion?
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Scout said on March 25, 2015 at 2:35 pm
I love Golden Retrievers. They are beautiful and tend to have really sweet temperments.
I think Shelly O’s hair was pulled back too. A really good look on her. Both she and Pres O are very strikingly good looking people. I was 3 feet away from the President when he spoke in Phoenix in January. He is even more handsome in person.
There, I spent a whole post talking about blondes and brunettes that I find beautiful.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2015 at 2:37 pm
Amen Annie. I just made the comment earlier that Michelle looked great with her hair slicked back like that. Not many women can pull that look off. I would look like a wet weasel.
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 2:39 pm
Joe – agreed about Condi. I liked her, but not her boss
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 2:40 pm
(and I voted for her boss!)
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Joe K said on March 25, 2015 at 2:50 pm
I really wish she would run for President, would love to see a debate between her and Hillary.
Just imagine, since I didn’t vote Obama I’m a racist according to some, so if you vote for Hill I guess your racist unless that only counts if your a conservative you vote for Condi, your what? Anti woman? Nope, couldn’t be that,their both women. Would be a very interesting campaign.
Pilot Joe
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Joe K said on March 25, 2015 at 2:56 pm
While I’m at it, if Hillery doesn’t run, who takes over and why? Also might be older news but if the U.SA. Has Helicopters named blackhawk, Apache, Kiowa and Lakota and our cruise missiles are Tomahawks, plus the code name Geronimo, for killing Osama, why the big fuss over calling a sports team the Redskins?
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Anyone who’s still in the Republican party is a racist. Also a traitor. The pathologies have a tendency to cross in the authoritarian personality.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-spied-on-iran-talks-1427164201
The whole time that American flag worshipping, war whooping, Bible banging, Reagan sucking psychobabble was just cover for a fifth column. Who coulda knowed?
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nancy said on March 25, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Kiowa, Apache, Lakota, etc. are proper tribe names. Redskins is a slur. It’s the difference between describing the Masai, Ashanti, Zulu and calling them all n—ers.
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 3:05 pm
Also might be older news but if the U.SA. Has Helicopters named blackhawk, Apache, Kiowa and Lakota and our cruise missiles are Tomahawks, plus the code name Geronimo, for killing Osama, why the big fuss over calling a sports team the Redskins?
Just sit back and contemplate that sentence for a minute. The perfect obsidian density of that motherfucker. Like a polished New Kingdom monument to one Pharoah Stub-toe, strangled amid the festival of Thoth by his own tongue.
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adrianne said on March 25, 2015 at 3:35 pm
And in other Michigan news…Nance, do you know anything about this idiot politician who is after the Midland News editor for being gay?
http://jimromenesko.com/2015/03/25/lawmaker-issues-alert-over-gay-editors-promotion/
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Danny said on March 25, 2015 at 3:36 pm
Nance, the problem with your theory is that no one uses “redskin” as a pejorative anymore. It has lost all negative cultural connotation in modern times as a racial slur. And this is somewhat demonstrated in your own post by you being able to type it in all its alphabetic glory versus the other word, which no one should type out.
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nancy said on March 25, 2015 at 3:38 pm
Ask an actual Native American if they feel that way, then get back to me.
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nancy said on March 25, 2015 at 3:39 pm
And yes, I know that guy. Professional ethics precludes me from sharing an opinion, but he’s on record as saying he believes individual municipalities should be free to criminalize homosexual behavior.
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 3:41 pm
It has lost all negative cultural connotation in modern times as a racial slur.
Bro-bike on up to Pine Ridge and use it, brah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGAdzn5_KU
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Jolene said on March 25, 2015 at 3:53 pm
James Fallows has a brief comment on yesterday’s plane crash, including a short video showing what happens to a pilot’s ability to reason when he or she becomes hypoxic. Really fascinating to see how quickly an oxygen-deprived brain loses the ability to solve the simplest problems. Within a few minutes, the pilots in these videos are unable even to follow instructions to put their masks back on.
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Sherri said on March 25, 2015 at 3:58 pm
If you could never be the target of the racial slur, then I don’t think you get to determine whether the racial slur has “lost all negative connotation.”
I also don’t understand why anyone would pick the name of a professional football team as the hill they want to defend, particularly that professional football team. The owner that gave the team that name was undeniably racist, and the current owner of the team is a thin-skinned jerk who screws over his customers and has ruined his team.
In my house, the Washington professional football team is referred to as either the Washington Racial Slurs or the Washington Red-Skinned Potatoes, the Potatoes being the favorite.
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Jeff Borden said on March 25, 2015 at 4:03 pm
I am a longtime fan of the Cleveland Indians. While the team name is not racist, per se, the caricature of Chief Wahoo certainly is the epitome of what a buddy of mine calls Little Red Sambo. The fans have long protested the removal of Chief Wahoo, but it’s not for them to judge. The club is moving toward his elimination and substituting the block letter C on some caps, but not all of them. I love the Tribe, but they are moving too slowly in my book. Wahoo has to go.
Meanwhile, I’m thrilled to see that Mike Pence and the homophobic Indiana GOP will shoot their own state’s economy in the foot just to show they hate them some gays. A comic and fantasy convention, Gen Con, says it will leave Indianapolis ASAP when Pence signs the so-called religious freedom act into law. The convention generates $50 million in economic activity and is Indy’s largest gathering every year. A tolerant religious group is canceling its meetings in Indy to protest the enshrined bigotry.
You can hit dumbshits like Pence and his crowd over the heads with two-by-fours and they won’t let out a cry. Let’s see how they react as Indiana loses more business. Only when hatred, racism and bigotry are viewed as too expensive to enjoy will these rubes change their ways.
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alex said on March 25, 2015 at 4:05 pm
Just imagine, since I didn’t vote Obama I’m a racist according to some
According to who? If you’re facing such judgment, it has nothing to do with how you voted. It’s how you behave. Repeating the racially charged sucker bait being fed to you by Fox News and talk radio isn’t going to win you any friends around here.
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MarkH said on March 25, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Don’t have to do that, coozledad, although I probably liver closer than most here, except Charlotte.
Nancy, it’s not as cut and dried as you would opine. I’ll just submit this article from over a year ago, when the controversy was at it’s peak. There’s this nugget summary:
“What gets far less attention, though, is this:
There are Native American schools that call their teams Redskins. The term is used affectionately by some natives, similar to the way the N-word is used by some African-Americans. In the only recent poll to ask native people about the subject, 90 percent of respondents did not consider the term offensive, although many question the cultural credentials of the respondents.
All of which underscores the oft-overlooked diversity within Native America.”
90 percent. The Oneida Nation notwithstanding. Perhaps not absolute, but…The piece is worth a complete read-through.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/08/how-many-native-americans-think-redskins-is-a-slur/
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 4:22 pm
How’re the San Diego Douchebros stacking up against the Dallas Traitors this year?
The Boston Bogmicks are long overdue for an asskicking, but I’m not sure the Cincinnati Polacks will be able to find the goddamned field.
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nancy said on March 25, 2015 at 4:26 pm
I’d still maintain that Natives choosing to call their team the Redskins is a far cry from the NFL team, the same way rappers can call one another the N-word and I, for one, can call myself and my female friends “girls,” but if the wrong guy does it? He’d best watch his ass. I once heard Alex leave a voicemail for a friend that opened with HEY FAGGOT, but I wouldn’t dare.
You can own your own slur. No one else can.
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Joe K said on March 25, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Alex, check #45, perfect example.
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on March 25, 2015 at 4:33 pm
The bully and the inveterate whiner. Always the same thin-skinned sack of crap.
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Jeff Borden said on March 25, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Remember a few years ago? There was an intramural sports team at a college serving predominantly Native Americans that had some fun by giving themselves the nicknames, The Fighting Whites. You can still buy their T-shirts.
http://www.cafepress.com/fightinwhite
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 25, 2015 at 4:54 pm
Why doesn’t Indiana have any moderate Dems? That used to be an export crop from my home state. The Bayhs, Hartke, Paul Douglas as Indiana’s third senator… Let alone moderate Republicans like Lugar or even the occasional Wilkie.
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brian stouder said on March 25, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Well, I’ll say this much –
I love love love Fort Wayne Community Schools, and it’s super superintendent (Dr Wendy Robinson), and pretty much all of the teachers and the administrators that I know (at South Side and at Wayne and at Towles and at Bunche and at Price)…
and the ONE thing that our district is NOT two moves ahead on (as they are on pretty much everything else) is that one of our 5 high schools, North Side, calls their teams the Redskins.
Really, truly, and sincerely – I think they should change that.
Several other possibilities exist, given Fort Wayne’s history – with and personalities like Little Turtle and (especially) Tecumseh and the Miamis and related Algonquian tribes….
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Joe kobiels said on March 25, 2015 at 6:19 pm
Brian how about the north side Harry Bawls.
North Side River Rats??
Seriously, North Side Dragoons would honor the early settlers.
Pilot Joe
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Danny said on March 25, 2015 at 6:27 pm
You guys should google some of the team names at the annual San Diego Over the Line Tournament. OTL is kind of a mashup of baseball and cricket with a lot of beer and debauchery in the mix. One of the girls team names that I remember was “The Cum-Guzzling Sluts.” And the lust goes on as such from there, which is why none of the cable sorts networks can cover the event, though they would like to.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2015 at 6:38 pm
I can say that many Native American folks around here in Northern New Mexico would not like being referred to as Redskins by anyone. No one that I can imagine would think to do that. In fact they refer to themselves as Native People, not even Native Americans. Not that they aren’t some of the most patriotic people I can think of. When people were signing up to go to Afghanistan and Iraq they came out in droves to sign up. There is a rich culture here and they are highly respected.
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alex said on March 25, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Why doesn’t Indiana have any moderate Dems? That used to be an export crop from my home state. The Bayhs, Hartke, Paul Douglas as Indiana’s third senator… Let alone moderate Republicans like Lugar or even the occasional Wilkie.
A black colleague and I were pondering exactly the same question over drinks one time. We concluded it’s not the gerrymandering given the recent trends in gubernatorial elections (which wouldn’t be affected by gerrymandering), but rather the polarization brought about by outlets like Fox News. The Democratic brand has become so poisoned in the minds of the white working class and the elderly that even a blue dog like Joe Donnelley, who loves fetuses and firearms more than anyone and makes Dick Lugar look like Saul Alinsky, is widely regarded with suspicion.
I’d say the Dems need to build a better mousetrap, only I’d hate to see them descend to this level of demagoguery.
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Dexter said on March 25, 2015 at 7:43 pm
Don’t be so easy on Condoleezza Rice, the Stanford brain who left us shaking in our boots when she said on “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”
She was deep into the Bush smoke clouds he was blowing at the public’s sensibilities. She and Colin Powell were so revered and ended up looking like Bush’s little lying poodles. I can’t stand either one of them , and Powell maybe even more so, because Powell was one member of the brass in Vietnam we all believed and looked up to…for me, just quotes in The Stars and Strips newspaper we got sporadically, but to the grunts in the field who served under his command, Colin Powell was a true American inspirational leader. And then he lied on national TV for Bush, which sickened me.
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Sherri said on March 25, 2015 at 7:47 pm
Even if only ten percent of Native Americans are offended, why does anyone want to preserve the name of the Washington professional football team at the expense of those ten percent, unless your name is Dan Snyder?
(I get that some conservatives things like this just because they think it pisses off the liberals, but really, you’re spending much more time worrying about what we think about you than perhaps is healthy.)
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Dexter said on March 25, 2015 at 11:26 pm
Ad here’s a nightcap, a real local Page Six type story for around here:
March 24, 2015
(KPC News is the source here)
FORT WAYNE – A 20-year-old Auburn man is facing a public indecency charge after he allegedly took off all of his clothing inside in an Allen County library.
According to our news partner, WANE-TV, the manager of the Allen County Library branch at 536 E. Dupont Road called police at about 10:30 a.m.Tuesday. The manager told police the situation started when she confronted a man at a computer station wearing only his shorts — no other clothing.
The manager told police that she told the man, who police identified as Donn Avary Schmidt, that he needed to wear more clothing while in the library. The manager said Schmidt questioned the policy, but left to get more clothing. However, as he was walking out, he took off his shorts and walked out completely naked.
According to WANE, the manager said Schmidt then returned, with his shorts back on, and asked to see the policy that required him to wear more clothing. She asked him to leave, and Schmidt again took off his shorts and walked out completely naked.
The manager followed him out and waited in the parking lot until police arrived, according to the police report. Schmidt was taken to the Allen County Jail.
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Suzanne said on March 26, 2015 at 8:27 am
I think there aren’t many moderate Dems left in Indiana because most of them have moved away. Indianapolis has been the last bastion of growth in the state pretty much but with this new law, this may change. Even Lilly & Co is against it.
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BethB said on March 26, 2015 at 8:44 am
I live in Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis. I was the only one in my neighborhood who displayed an Obama sign during the presidential election. Most of the time, GOP candidates run unopposed for city and county offices. This is a safe place for us to live, close to our doctors (essential for us–I have MS, hubby is a diabetic), grocery stores and other necessary services, but it is disgustingly Republican, and WASPish.
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beb said on March 26, 2015 at 8:51 am
“Redskins” AP History classes and American Exceptionalism all combine into an ugly clot (or blot) on the face of America. American Exceptionalism begins with the idea that settles from Europe found an empty continent which they proceeded to fill with Exceptional people. However the continent was already filled with people, which the Europeans promptly set about exterminating. When the Native Peoples proved to be tougher fighter than the European genocidists expected, they began adopting Indian names as a sign of strength. I’m not sure people yell Geronimo when parachuting out of a plane when my instinct would be to yell, “Holy Mother of God!”
The point is that American Exceptionalism wants to sweep all that genocide under the carpet, sees no harm in calling a sports team “redskins” because no one has ever accused them of being dirty indians, and hates it when AP History courses try to mention that maybe not everything in American was peachy-keen.
I happened to see that episode of Jeopardy with Michelle Obama. I did not recognize her with her hair pulled back like that. Did not think it was a becoming look. I still think she is the best dressed First Lady since Jackie Kennedy. And suspect that she were in a no-hold barred debate with Condi Rice, would prevail.
“Hey, Faggot!” Reminds me of the first openly gay man I ever met. This was a the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention, held that year in Kansas City. He loved calling himself a faggot, and got so freaked out by all the heterosexuality at the convention that he spend the first night at the baths. But, yeah, faggot’s a word he could use but I can’t.
Evan Bayh is not a moderate Dem; he’s a conservative Dem.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 8:52 am
There aren’t many moderate Dems in Indiana because there aren’t many moderates of any description anywhere. You can use this animation to see how much political polarization has increased in the U.S. over the past 20 years. Very dramatic portrayal.
This animation comes from a large, multi-faceted study of polarization in the U.S. carried out over several years.
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coozledad said on March 26, 2015 at 9:07 am
Evan Bayh is a Republican. That’s why Republicans want you to fondle his crank. He’s Joe Lieberman with a maxilla and mandible.
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nancy said on March 26, 2015 at 9:08 am
The right has also proved quite adept at moving the center, branding everything to the left of Chris Christie as Marxism. (Or Maoism. Depending on their mood.)
A few months ago, I was on a radio panel, and one of the panelists, a conservative, said “Barack Obama has pulled his party far to the left.” The host and I guffawed. I’m just not letting them get away with saying stuff like that anymore.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 9:24 am
Holy smokes! The co-pilot appears to have caused the plane crash in France. How awful! Hard to imagine the grief and, now, anger of the families. Horrible to have lost a family member. Worse to know that someone else caused the death and that he or she died in terror.
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coozledad said on March 26, 2015 at 9:28 am
Obama has pulled the Democrats so far to the left the Republicans have had to resort to incorporating Klansmen, skinheads, Mormon meth families and pipe bomb wielding snake handlers into the upper ass-reaches of the party.
Thanks, Obama.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 10:03 am
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the ACA, and Obama spoke at a WH event celebrating it. Worth listening to his speech to get an overview of how the ACA is working (16 million newly insured!) and also to hear him take a lick at the Republicans for persisting in their efforts to trash this market-based reform.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 10:24 am
Apropos of nothing in particular, here’s another specific little thing I did not know, and which Harold Holzer’s book on Lincoln and the power of the press (and indeed, the power occasionally used against the press!) taught me.
You know that song – The Star Spangled Banner? They play it before every NASCAR race, and usually someone you vaguely recognize sings it? The one written by Francis Scott Key, about the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Baltimore harbor, during the Revolutionary war?
I did not know that Francis Scott Key’s own grandson got clapped into a dungeon-like military prison for several months, without charge (let alone conviction) in 1861, as he was an ink-stained wretch and his paper printed something that the government didn’t like.
Many other reporters, editors, and others also were indefinitely held there, for what they wrote (or telegraphed, or printed), without charge.
And that prison – also referred to as the American Bastille?
You guessed it – Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor
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Danny said on March 26, 2015 at 10:30 am
Nance, regarding use of “girls”…Srsly…
I can’t think of a situation where one could not be able use the salutation “hey, girls” in the right context. Even upper executive, type-A’s would not take umbrage in the board room.
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BethB said on March 26, 2015 at 10:33 am
Brian–right guy, right fort, wrong war. It was the War of 1812 during which Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner.
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2015 at 10:37 am
Dear Danny,
There is not a single situation where you could address a group of women as girls. Not. A. One. You would be talking down, which is never appropriate.
Sincerely,
All Women Everywhere
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2015 at 10:49 am
Preach it, Julie.
Some things just aren’t done.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 10:52 am
BethB – well, I’d say that’s going to be number one on the list of things I learned today!
(I guess if I’d thought about it, the fact that there was a fort owned by the good guys should have clued me!)
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Snarkworth said on March 26, 2015 at 11:10 am
Even upper executive, type-A’s would not take umbrage in the board room.
Wow. That’s some Dansplaining.
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Heather said on March 26, 2015 at 11:24 am
I love when men take it upon themselves to tell women how women feel about these things.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2015 at 11:52 am
Clueless.
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coozledad said on March 26, 2015 at 11:56 am
Douchebros gonna douchebro.
When I quit my band, I fielded a call from one of the other member’s soon to be ex wives. She sarcastically asked me “Don’t you want to be with the boys? In the goddamn BEER ROOM!?”
There’s some boys here gonna take their last breath in the beer room. It’s the douchbro way of life.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 11:57 am
My (altogether lovely) wife and daughters keep me fully-stocked with ‘clues’!!
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LAMary said on March 26, 2015 at 12:26 pm
What Julie said. Note that if I were addressed that way in the boardroom, I would write it down, date it, and save it for any future lawsuits that might happen.
Also, where I work many of the top positions are held by women. It think it would at best unwise and at worst suicidal to address any of them as girls.
On another note, sort of, I behind a silver Honda CRV on the 5 freeway yesterday. The license plate as I(heart shape)UTERI. Either this person loves Teri or they have very special feelings for wombs.
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Dorothy said on March 26, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Dammit. Heather beat me to it. And so did Julie, Deborah, Jeff Borden and LAMary. Did I miss any other ladies and/or gentlemen?
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Danny said on March 26, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Thankfully, in the wider same world, not everyone walks around with giant sticks up their asses. I’ve been asked if I have to “stop at the boys room” on occasion. No big deal.
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Danny said on March 26, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Sane. Damn autocorrect.
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Dexter said on March 26, 2015 at 1:44 pm
Jolene #78, Pilot Joe: I called the deliberate crashing of the Airbus A320 into the Alps an act of terrorism, but I guess to be considered terrorism there must be a link to a terrorist organization, and the evil mass-murdering 28-year-old co:pilot Andreas Lubitz gets off by just being called a “suicide victim”.
My adult kids and my young-adult grandchildren fly around the country and to Mexico resorts several times a year, and I never worry about it, but it just so happened my daughter was in the air aboard a Delta Boeing 737-800 from LAX to CMH when the A320 went down, and I was so worried in a parental way I sat in front of a screen tracking her flight until at about 5:00 AM she crossed into Illinois airspace and I calmed down enough to hit the rack. Did I hear something on penetrating inaudible airwaves? Did a passing online headline catch me subliminally? I awoke at 9:00 AM to the awful news from France and Germany. The whole incident just creeped me out.
I cannot recall if any nn.c-ers are or were firefighters. For the first time since 2003 (I heard it on the radio) a Cincinnati firefighter has perished, and the cavalcade of firemen and firewomen will soon be pouring into The Queen City for what will surely be a massive funeral event. I was stunned a short while back when Toledo firefighters were lost and the FDs from all over the US and Canada rushed to Toledo for the funerals.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 2:05 pm
Dex – I’ll be interested to hear more about the 28 year-old co-pilot’s background.
Several of the 9/11 terrorists cycled through Germany
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nancy said on March 26, 2015 at 2:16 pm
It doesn’t sound as though the plane was put into a dive; he just flew into a mountain. An eight-minute process. Jesus. I can only imagine what that must have been like on board — the pilot pounding and pounding, the passengers slowly realizing their doom.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2015 at 2:17 pm
Let me translate “sane” from Dannyspeak:
In the world in which I don’t have to pay attention to what anyone else thinks or feels, particularly people who don’t look like me, it’s just peachy that I call that woman in the C-level suite a girl. Keeps her in her place.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 2:21 pm
Did you Hoosiers hear that Mike Pence is establishing a needle-exchange program in Scott County? Apparently, the number of new HIV infections is roughly 15 times the usual level–79 cases in a year vs. 5 in a year.
Clearly, he hates the idea, as he is only putting it in place for 30 days and in only one county. Not sure how they will assess the success of such a limited program, but that’s the plan now.
Obviously, it’s terrible that anyone Is getting HIV, but I admit to taking some satisfaction when conservatives are forced by reality to do reasonable things.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Here’s a graphic that portrays the path of the downed plane in time and altitude.
Apparently, the descent was fairly gradual. From what’s been said about the sounds on the voice data recorder, the passengers don’t appear to have realized their fate until it was almost upon them.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Jolene, indeed.
Pence has a massive crater where his character should be. (same for the legislators that passed the religious discrimination act, but he’s the guy who signed it into law)
So now, when I go to the super-doper market, the cashier gets to say “I will not sell this to you, because it is against my religion”??
No no no – the store will fire him; but the manager or OWNER gets to say “No soup for you!”
Indiana – home of the soup nazis
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Dexter said on March 26, 2015 at 2:34 pm
US rules and European protocol vary vastly. Over US airspace, when the pilot or F.O. must use a toilet, as the officer passes an attendant’s cart is pushed up by a second attendant as another flight attendant quickly enters the cockpit area…one pilot is not allowed to be alone, and the cart blocks access so that an attacker would have to scramble over the cart to rush a door that would be open for a few seconds. When the pilot is ready to re:enter the cockpit, the cart is quickly wheeled to the back and off to the side and the pilot quickly moves to the front of the aircraft and enters a code which triggers the attendant to open the door and trade spots with the pilot, and the door is slammed shut immediately.
Over European airspace, no such procedure. Lubitz was left alone, secured by 9-11 rules, the pilot unable to get inside no matter how strong he was. This kind if thing has happened at least 6 times before and possibly as many as 8 times, depending on the source, according to the senior pilots I heard on tbhe radio today.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 2:41 pm
I remember the Egypt Air guy, and the recent one in the deep blue Indian Ocean…and I’d almost count the insane 747 pilot at the Canary Islands who just wanted to go-go-go, even though he wasn’t cleared to go (and he slammed another 747)…
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 2:45 pm
Over what time period, Dexter? The article I saw mentioned only two such incidents. Will try to find it.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 3:15 pm
“In 1999, an Egypt Air plane went into a steep plunge after taking off from New York bound for Cairo, crashing into the Atlantic and killing all 217 people aboard. Investigators concluded that a mechanical malfunction was highly unlikely.
In 1994, the pilot on a Royal Air Maroc flight appeared to intentionally slam the plane into a Moroccan mountainside. All 44 people on board were killed.”
Here are the two incidents I read about, Dexter. These paragraphs are from a WaPo article.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 3:29 pm
James Fallows’s latest observations on the airline crash in Europe. Once again, he is both a pilot and an analyst of aviation.
He argues that it’s probably impossible to prevent someone determined to crash a plane from doing it because any system meant to prevent such actions ultimately requires an emergency override, which a determined miscreant can exploit.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Sorry about that last link, but it works.
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Dave said on March 26, 2015 at 3:57 pm
Brian, I’ve been working my way through “A Team of Rivals”, and read, just today, how Francis Scott Key’s son was shot and killed by a congressman named Sickles, after Sickles discovered Key was having an affair with his wife. Sickles got off on a temporary insanity plea and became a favorite party guest of Mrs. Lincoln.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2015 at 4:20 pm
I went to a County Council meeting this morning for Rio Arriba County about the Family Dollar store that’s going up in Abiquiu. It’s sad that many of the locals don’t get that Family Dollar couldn’t care less about their community. They think it will give them a place to buy groceries and household goods for less and keep them from having to drive 8 miles to the next closest Family Dollar. It’s very much a controversy, the wealthier gringos who moved into the community and the long time hispanics are on opposite sides. I get that people with low incomes need a place to shop for their needs, but Family Dollar doesn’t cater to their needs. We are worried about the slippery slope, that the highway going through Abiquiu will become a typical corridor of Corporate Commercialism and turn into everywhere-ville. Rio Arriba County is one of the most beautiful places on earth and the poorest county in New Mexico.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2015 at 4:21 pm
And while gringo is a slur, I can use it because I’m one.
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Jolene said on March 26, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Here’s a different list of pilot-induced air crashes. This one is from the BBC. Only one of these flights appears on both lists, so, together, these articles tell of four such incidents.
29 November 2013: A flight between Mozambique and Angola crashed in Namibia, killing 33 people. Initial investigation results suggested the accident was deliberately carried out by the captain shortly after the first officer (also known as the co-pilot) had left the flight deck.
31 October 1999: An EgyptAir Boeing 767 went into a rapid descent 30 minutes after taking off from New York, killing 217 people. An investigation suggested that the crash was caused deliberately by the relief first officer but the evidence was not conclusive.
19 December 1997: More than 100 people were killed when a Boeing 737 travelling from Indonesia to Singapore crashed. The pilot – suffering from “multiple work-related difficulties” – was suspected of switching off the flight recorders and intentionally putting the plane into a dive.
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Danny said on March 26, 2015 at 5:08 pm
Sherri, nothing could be further from the truth. What you describe would be surely petty bullshit if someone actually did that. Perhaps it would be clearer if I explained what I was getting at in my original comment regarding “context.”
The environment in which I work is face-paced and high-stress. We frequently don’t have enough hours in a normal day to get everything done and the only way it works is that we have a very collegial environment where leaders at different levels and from different areas of the business come together to fill the gaps and get things accomplished. It’s quite common for us to organize into highly cross-functional teams on an ad-hoc basis to address critical issues in a timely manner. These teams are quite diverse will be comprised of necessary subject matter experts from across design, manufacturing, materials research, field services, etc. and in different roles from individual contributors to executive managers. We all work in concert to achieve the goal.
Last year I was part of two such diverse, highly cross-functional teams tasked with resolving four of the top product issues at our company. It was a pressure cooker, but the team was experienced, committed and we all worked a lot of damn hours. In the end, we were successful.
In the course of the year, it was nothing for a team member who had a schedule conflict and to wander in late to a team working meeting and say something offhand like “So, where are we at boys?” or “So, where are we at girls?” Comments like these are never construed nor interpreted as being “about putting people in their place.” It’s about the fact that we are all friends in the thick of a problem, looking after each other’s mutual interests with our sleeves rolled up and brains fully engaged with the issues at hand.
We have a professional, diverse and inclusive workplace and a lot of mutual respect for and camaraderie with one another. It’s very rewarding as well as exhausting at times and I love our team.
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MichaelG said on March 26, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Well, I’m in Barcelona. I arrived Wednesday on, yes, an Air France A-320. BCN is a lovely airport. I flew from Sacramento to Seattle and from Seattle to Paris, CDG. CDG is a huge airport. A lot of architectural thought went into its design. Maybe less into its functionality. It’s getting older now and needs a major cleaning and refurb.
My bag was checked from SMF through to BCN. I had to clear immigration at CDG. At BCN I got off the plane, hit the men’s room and went to the baggage claim. My bag was already there. I picked it up and walked out and caught a cab. I never did clear customs either in France or in Spain. Not that I’m complaining.
Somehow I had convinced myself that the weather in BCN was about the same as that in Sactown. My mistake. I came from 70s at home to 50s here. Shit. It’s cold.
Barcelona is it’s same lovely self. What a walking town. A pleasant surprise awaits around every curve in the narrow old streets. I pretty much stayed around the neighborhood today. What charms me is the way stores are so much more than they appear. From the ancient, narrow (maybe twenty feet between buildings) street, a storefront will be a few feet wide with stuff in the windows. This one was a bookstore just across and up a little bit from the hotel. Then you walk in and the interior blossoms and there are rooms and rooms, all under and between arched columns. The whole thing is a delight. I also stopped at a similarly arranged hardware store.
Then there’s the Museo Moto. Catalonia, and Barcelona in particular, have a rich history in off road motorcycles. The museum, a few steps from my hotel, is dedicated to local manufacturers including Ossa and Montessa and especially is a shrine to Barcelona’s premier moto builder, Bultaco. It details the history of the marc richly illustrated with photos and the actual motorcycle being described. There must be thirty or so Bultacos. It’s quite striking and a wonderful example of a museum that recognizes its niche and spends its efforts accordingly. Bultaco closed its doors in something like 1981 but it is said that they are coming back. There was a splendid example of an electric bike that they are proposing to manufacture. I wish them well.
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MichaelG said on March 26, 2015 at 5:53 pm
its same old lovely self
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Scout said on March 26, 2015 at 6:18 pm
I absolutely love Barcelona. It’s my favorite European city so far, but admittedly I still have many to visit. I would go back to Barcelona any time, though. It has everything. Enjoy, MichaelG!
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Deborah said on March 26, 2015 at 6:30 pm
I am so envious MichaelG, but reading your account makes me feel like I’m there too. I’m drinking a Maragrita right now, so it seems fitting. We had some people over for dinner last night so we still have the makings for them with fresh lime juice.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2015 at 6:36 pm
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/indiana-defines-stupidity-as-religion?mbid=nl_032615_Borowitz&cndid=33566271&mbid=nl_032615_Borowitz&CNDID=33566271&spMailingID=7616811&spUserID=OTM5MTI1MDgzMDYS1&spJobID=642397356&spReportId=NjQyMzk3MzU2S0
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Dexter said on March 26, 2015 at 7:34 pm
Jolene…no way for me to document the 6 to 8 figure but to explain that both Scott Sloan and Willie Cunningham, WLW-Cincinnati radio hosts, had different senior pilots as radio guests and both gave the 6 to 8 figure.
One of the pilots only answered questions after he started his guest appearance with a spiel about how safe all airlines and airplanes in general are, and to please not cancel any flight plans because of this isolated incident. Like a goodly number of folks, I hate to fly; I despise being crammed into a flying sardine can. The worst for me was in 1996 when I had to fly to the coast a few days after Flight 800 was mysteriously destroyed out over Long Island, NYC to Paris…it never made it, and all sorts of rumors and many people swearing they saw rockets emerge from the sea and bring it down. Many of you have seen the doc on the cable networks about Flight 800, and how the US Navy and all other suspects were let off the hook and the blame was fixed onto explosives in the cargo hold. Legal cargo. Uh huh, right. I was a nervous wreck for the first leg of the flight from Port Columbus to Sky Harbor Phoenix, then I calmed down.
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Charlotte said on March 26, 2015 at 7:52 pm
Dexter — my great-greats went down on the Lusitania — torpedoed yes, but exacerbated according to many accounts by the explosives in the hold. Not quite “legal cargo” though …
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adrianne said on March 26, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Danny, as a longtime toiler in a male-dominated field (journalism), can I just say that these “innocent” comments perpetuate the male dominance? One of the reporters in my new job (law360.com) is on the trial of Ellen Pao v. venture capitalists. It’s pretty clear to me (they’re waiting for a verdict) that the venture capitalism crowd is really sexist. Some of the things that Pao was called on would not have been noticed AT ALL if it was a male doing it. I hope they come down in spades on her old firm. This bullshit cannot be tolerated. Any more. At all.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2015 at 8:13 pm
I was a toiler in a male dominated field too, architecture was/is an old, white man’s game. Although I wasn’t an architect I worked in that “industry” for many years as a graphic designer for the built environment. I can say that no one would have dared to walk into a conference room or anywhere else and refer to women as “girls”. I was in the business for at least 35 years and I can’t recall it happening once.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Danny, what I am suggesting is, the environment that seems oh so collegial to you, might feel less collegial to your female coworkers. I’m sure you don’t mean anything by it, but as someone who has spent much time in high stress, fast-paced, male-dominated fields, let me tell you, the women are aware of it. Just like we’re aware of the fact that we’re interrupted more often, that our ideas are ignored more often (only for the same idea to be listened to when a man says it later), and that if we keep our head down and work hard, we won’t get recognized and promoted, but if we are more assertive, we’re bitchy and not part of the team.
And that’s in companies where there isn’t active sexism and discrimination. It’s very frustrating to me that some 30 years after I started in tech, the percentage of women in tech is no better than it was back then.
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Joe K said on March 26, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Dexter,
Pan Am 800 exploded because of a short in a empty fuel tank igniting the vapors.
Pilot Joe
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 26, 2015 at 9:43 pm
Dave @ #109 – That Sickles becomes Gen. Daniel Sickles, whose bonehead move in the Peach Orchard almost managed to lose the Battle of Gettysburg for the Union on July 2, which would have rendered Pickett’s & Pettigrew’s Charge on July 3 unnecessary, leaving a large reserve to roll up the Army of the Potomac and begin the push to Washington for Gen. Lee. Only some fast thinking by Gen. Hancock and others, throwing units in the gap including my own ancestor with the 53rd PA into the Wheatfield.
Sickles lost a leg at the Peach Orchard, and in later years the pompous loon liked to go to the US Army Surgical Museum to “visit” his preserved amputated limb. I believe he might have fallen up to become a senator, but not sure about his whole post-war career.
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brian stouder said on March 26, 2015 at 10:39 pm
JoeK – I remember that story, and being incredulous about it; afterall, why wouldn’t very large planes with very large fuel tanks explode like that more often, if that was such a threat?
Not long after that news, I was at an air show at Grissom Air Force Base, and was admiring a humongous C5A
https://www.google.com/search?q=c5a&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XMIUVbmJCYawggTxj4HwDA&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1333&bih=636
and there was a member of the flight crew standing there, so I asked him about that danger –
and he immediately pointed to some connections on the plane for nitrogen-blanketing within the fuel tank – and then I understood!
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Sherri said on March 26, 2015 at 10:52 pm
BTW, the fantasy and comics convention may not be the only thing Indianapolis loses over the religious bigotry bill Pence signed today. Pressure is already building for the NCAA to take action. It’s too late to move the men’s Final Four, scheduled for Indianapolis in just a couple of weeks, but next year’s women’s Final Four is scheduled for Indianapolis, and that could be moved, as well as future tournament games. The NCAA already refuses to hold championship events in South Carolina because of the Confederate flag flying at the state capitol.
Even if the NCAA doesn’t move the women’s Final Four next year, I would expect to see significant boycott action; lesbians make up a noticeable fraction of the women’s basketball fan base.
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